Free Web NovelChapter 514: Chapter 104: Wang Shuo Strikes It Rich! The Golden Ball Award List! Dortmund’s Limit! A Worldie for the Puskás Award
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Wang Shuo stood in the open doorway and knocked on Klopp’s office door.
Klopp, his face covered in a thick beard, looked up from his desk. Seeing it was Wang Shuo, he immediately beckoned him over.
"Come in."
Before Wang Shuo even reached his desk, Klopp spoke up. "Wang, you’ve been taking a lot of leave recently."
During the national team’s training period, players were still expected to report to the training facility outside of the club’s official holidays.
But Wang Shuo had indeed been extremely busy lately.
"I’m warning you, I treat everyone equally. If you’re not in good form, you’ll be riding the bench, same as anyone else."
"I know. I’ll be more careful from now on," Wang Shuo said with an apologetic smile.
’As if he didn’t know what Uncle Mustache was like.’
’Besides, he had officially filed for all his days off.’
’As the team’s star player, it was one thing not to have any special privileges, but should he really have to walk on eggshells just to request some leave?’
’Wouldn’t that be taking a step backward in his career?’
Klopp grunted. He was just saying it to keep the kid grounded, afraid the young man was letting success get to his head.
"So, what did you need?"
"Oh," Wang Shuo said, then immediately pulled out a small gift bag and held it out to Klopp.
"For you, Boss."
"For me?" Klopp asked, surprised.
As far as he knew, Wang Shuo’s go-to move was treating people to dinner; he’d never seen him do something like this.
"What is it?"
"Nothing much, just a little something from a sponsor. You can open it later. I’ve gotta go."
With that, Wang Shuo placed the bag on Klopp’s desk, gave a wave, and turned to leave.
Klopp was puzzled. He set aside his work, picked up the bag, and took a look.
Inside the bag was a small, exquisite square box bearing the Rolex logo.
Inside the box was a Rolex watch. It was clearly a high-end model.
Klopp was in the habit of wearing a watch, especially for formal occasions.
So, he could tell at a glance that the watch was quite valuable—likely worth twenty or thirty thousand euros.
"Looks like the kid’s struck it rich," Klopp chuckled to himself.
He had to admit, he’d never actually worn a Rolex before.
Most importantly, it was a gift from his favorite player, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it.
As he took the watch out to examine it closely, he noticed an inscription on the caseback.
It had Klopp’s name, as well as Wang Shuo’s.
The message was clear: it was a personal gift from Wang Shuo.
’Is he telling me to put this in a collection?’
Amused, Klopp took the watch and left his office.
Just as he reached the office of Zeliko Buvac, Peter Krawietz, and the other coaches, he heard them discussing watches inside.
"What’s going on?" Klopp asked as he walked in curiously.
He saw it the moment he stepped inside.
The members of the core coaching staff were all in the office, and each of them was holding a gift bag.
In other words, a Rolex watch for everyone.
"Wang Shuo has really hit the big time!" Buvac laughed.
They were all men; none of them were immune to the appeal of a high-end watch.
It was just like with cars.
"I’ve already looked into it. He’s really gone all out this time," Peter Krawietz said from the side.
"He gave a Rolex, retail price around 30,000 euros, to every member of the core coaching staff, the four team doctors from the medical staff, other team members he frequently interacts with like Oliver Bartlett, and all 25 players on the first team."
"The youth players training with the first team and the non-core coaching staff also each received a Rolex watch worth 10,000 euros."
Klopp was stunned. "Has he lost his mind? You don’t just throw money around like that, even if you’re rich!"
In an instant, the Rolex in his hand felt uncomfortably hot.
He had been happy to receive the gift, but he had mentored Wang Shuo from the start and truly didn’t want to see him be so wasteful.
’According to Krawietz, he’d just given away over a million euros’ worth of gifts in one go?’
’That was insane!’
’Forget everything else—how many players on Dortmund’s first team even earned an annual salary of 1 million euros?’
’After deducting roughly 50% for income tax and insurance, their take-home pay was only 500,000 euros.’
"That kid needs to be taught a lesson!" Klopp fumed, about to fly into a rage.
"Whoa there, Jurgen."
Buvac quickly grabbed Klopp to stop him.
"What are you doing?"
"I’m going to go ask him what he thinks he’s doing, throwing money around like that," Klopp said, all fired up.
Krawietz just laughed. "Jurgen, I think you’ve got it all wrong."
"Got what wrong?"
"You can probably guess what his club salary is, but I’m guessing you haven’t been paying attention to his total income."
Klopp frowned.
"He just signed a sponsorship deal with Adidas. According to speculation from Bild, it’s an eight-figure sum annually."
"Eight figures?"
Klopp wasn’t great at math, so he had to quickly run the numbers in his head to confirm. ’Tens of millions.’
"Over the past two weeks, besides renewing with Adidas, he also signed deals with Rolex and Gillette. The sponsorship fees are reportedly not small—definitely in the seven figures."
"His current income from endorsements should be close to 20 million euros."
Klopp’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Twenty million euros?
"That much?"
"And that’s not even counting his deals back in China. Didn’t he take time off to go back home recently?"
Klopp nodded.
All he had noticed was that Wang Shuo had been taking a lot of leave recently and always seemed to be busy during the national team’s training camps.
He hadn’t really paid attention to the specifics.
"So the kid’s that rich now?"
Buvac and Krawietz both nodded in unison.
